Campaign Priorities

The MBU Empowers Campaign is centered around three themes that most impact our students’ futures. Our shared experience, our MBU community, and our campus home form the coils of the spring that empowers our young women and men toward lives of personal and professional success. And just as every facet of the student experience at MBU is connected, by supporting one area, you support them all.

The Baldwin Fund empowers

The Baldwin Fund provides MBU leadership the flexibility and deftness to address both opportunities and obstacles as they arise. In normal circumstances, these monies allow:

The university to meet the needs of an ever-changing world with confidence and vision.

MBU to attract and retain exceptional faculty members.

Students to engage in experiential learning opportunities such as internships.

Yet it is during times when our students face their greatest challenges that the importance of the fund manifests, such as during the worldwide COVID-19 crisis when these reserves are:

Covering costs to facilitate the safe return of students to campus in Fall ‘20

Assisting with the significant transition to online learning for our entire campus

Aiding displaced students

If our shared experience, our Mary Baldwin community, and our campus home form the coils of the spring that launches our students, this fund creates the tension between those coils to make the spring function. Given this critical role, Mary Baldwin is immediately seeking an additional $5 million to bolster this fund and ensure our students continue to receive the support that only the MBU family can provide.

In concert with our strategic vision for the future, our focus in the months ahead will broaden to include the three main areas where Mary Baldwin empowers its students to the fullest effect. Importantly, this expanded focus will include investments to adapt our campus for a post-pandemic world. Here are some projects that may be launching next:

Our shared experience empowers

What makes the Mary Baldwin experience unique? The affordable opportunities our students have to fuel their futures at every stage of their college careers. Your gift will help our students add momentum to their futures through scholarships and experiential learning grants.

With a commitment to substantial student support, the MBU Empowers Campaign will springboard the potential of thousands of current and future students.

Presidential Scholarships

$250,000 endowment, or$12,500 annually

Offered to help attract the best and brightest to MBU, these scholarships aid in tuition assistance, student retention, and a fully funded Capstone project. Presidential Scholarships support residential students in all programs, including MBCW, PEG, and VWIL.

Baldwin Scholarships

$100,000 endowment, or$5,000 annually

Flexible scholarships that can be restricted to merit-based or financial need. Baldwin Scholarships can also be used to fund critical scholarships awarded to high-achieving students in their junior year.

Experiential Learning Grants

$75,000 endowment, or$3,750 annually

These grants support such unique and life-changing opportunities as travel abroad; competitive internships; clinical residencies; doctoral capstones; and undergraduate research.

Student Success Scholarships

$75,000 endowment, or$3,750 annually

Awarded to students during or after the junior year, Student Success Scholarships are reserved for students who have exceeded performance expectations or demonstrated academic success.

Capstone Projects

$50,000 endowment, or$2,500 annually

Supports the culminating research projects of undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students.

General Scholarship Endowment

The General Scholarship Endowment accepts gifts in all sizes and supports students in all MBU programs. These scholarships provide the benefit of cost savings to the university.

Our MBU community empowers

At the heart of Mary Baldwin beats its relationships, whether between donors and the university, or between faculty and our students.

To deepen this constant stream of support, we will maximize interactive and experiential learning opportunities that offer students new paths for study and exploration.

Grafton Library Learning Commons

To ensure that MBU continues to evolve as a home for learning and community, we will look to transform the beloved and iconic Grafton Library’s first floor into a unique learning hub where students engage in hands-on learning through innovation and technology. A place for seminars and workshops, the Grafton Library Learning Commons will also serve as a launch pad for careers where students can search for internships, hone their resume and interviewing skills, and have access to career counselors.

Our campus home empowers

It’s where every voice is heard, every perspective has meaning, and lifelong bonds are formed. For so many of our students and alumni, the first glimpse of our beautiful campus nestled in downtown Staunton was the moment they found a second home. Your gift will serve the evolving needs of students and faculty through the renovation and creation of modern living and learning spaces within our historic campus.

The MBU Empowers Campaign will invest in the physical spaces that help create a home for our students and faculty.

Physical Activities Center Expansion

Expanding the heart of MBU Athletics will increase our visibility and community outreach while providing MBU student-athletes to train and compete in facilities comparable to their peers.

Center for Leadership

A leadership laboratory and home for VWIL, the Center for Leadership will begin another chapter in storied Kable Hall.

Carpenter Hall Renovation

A renovation of Carpenter Hall will create an atmosphere of teamwork and collaboration within the campus’s central academic building.